It's us vs them
by loosingletters
Summary: There is just one thing a little different in Katsuki's mindset: So what if Izuku doesn't have a quirk? He is still better than everybody else. And those who say different will get an explosion to their face. KatsuDeku. Katsuki and Izuku are best friends from the start.
1. Different kind of leaders

**Summary:** **There is just one thing a little different in Katsuki's mindset. So what if Izuku doesn't have a quirk? He is still better than everybody else. And those who say different will get an explosion to their face.**

 **New/old story! Decided to post it here too since I like this AU** **though I never actually finish writing out all the ideas I have** **.** **I think the idea of Katsuki thinking that everybody besides him and Izuku were stupid, is pretty interesting as it would change a lot. So ye.** **Basically** **Katsuki is 200% more gay and protective and beating bullies up.**

 **Not sure if Izuku will get a quirk as both could be pretty interesting. Oh well.**

"Your quirk is amazing, it makes you special."

Ever since Katsuki had gotten his quirk, his mother's words spun in his head. He couldn't quite grasp the concept of being special yet. He knew his quirk was stronger than most of his classmates' but did that really make him special, better than the rest? And what about Izuku? He didn't have his quirk yet and they had sworn to be hero partner later on.

Though, he had heard what the adults said when they thought neither of them were listening.

He heard their awful, terrible _lies_.

"Maybe he is quirkless."

"He definitely is."

"What a shame."

"Such a disappointment for his mother."

And they had made it sound like Izuku was _worthless_ because he didn't have a quirk.

It made Katsuki angry. So, so angry he wanted to burn those stupid adults!

Izuku was _amazing_. He always stood up for the weaker kids, even those who had quirks already. He was very smart, smarter than Katsuki and always did his best and worked three times as hard as everybody else. The adults were the idiots if they couldn't see how great his friend was.  
Maybe Katsuki was special and better than anybody else, but then Izuku was just the same.  
The boy nodded, affirming his thoughts, before grabbing his bag and walking out of the classroom. In front of the school he waited for his friend and future hero partner to come. When Izuku still wasn't there after ten minutes, Katsuki started to worry. It was weird, Izuku was never late. He was usually rather early than late and he was never later than exactly on time!

It was then that he heard the voices of his classmates, those he filed under "idiots", coming from somewhere on the school's left side.

Confidently he walked around the school, hoping Izuku wasn't there too. He knew how much those idiots liked to pick on the smaller boy and Katsuki definitely wasn't having any of that.

 _Nobody_ was allowed to hurt Izuki, ever. Katsuki was going to make sure of that.

It didn't take long to spot Izuki standing behind the taller idiots. The boy wasn't cowering at all, standing stall and like a rock while the others insulted him. Said he was worthless and that nobody would ever be his friend and his parents probably hated him too. They hadn't done anything worse yet, but as soon as he saw the older kids push Izuku around, something within him snapped. He ran to them, warmth building up and the want to burn. They wanted, no, they _had_ hurt Izuku and they would _pay_ for it.

"Leave him alone!" he screamed, his right fist up in the air to defeat those villains, and then he ran up to them.

The children turned around, first looking annoyed but then fear slowly crept onto their faces. The smallest of them, who was still so much taller than Izuku, let out a slight scream for which their 'leader' kicked him.

"What do you want, Katsuki?!" the brunet shouted.

But the blonde didn't listen. With the same speed, no, even faster, he ran towards them. The bullies jumped away the last second so that Katsuki came to a hold directly in front of Izuku. He spun around, protectively placing himself in front of his friend. The bullies looked afraid and Katsuki couldn't suppress a grin. They should be, after all they tried to hurt Izuku. He would show them-

"Kacchan, please don't", Izuku tugged at his shirt. Katsuki slightly turned his head to look at the smaller boy.

"Why?!" he demanded.

"Because we are the heroes and heroes endure and protect", Izuku answered, using all those words he heard in the reports about heroes.

Katsuki's fist was still raised as the bullies ran away.

Izuku that stupid _Deku_ just smiled up at Katsuki and hold out his hand. It should be the other way round, Katsuki thought. He should hold out his hand and let Izuku take it. But the smaller child wasn't having any of it, he lead without being a leader. Never giving commands, always asking and being so damn nice that you just had to do what he asked you to do.

It was fine, Katsuki guessed as he took the offered hand. Izuku was better than him dealing with people anyway. It was another kind of leading than the one Katsuki saw himself doing. Katsuki would lead the heroes to their victory over the villains while Izuku would lead the people away from danger, the civilians and the heroes too. A match made in heaven. Laughing the two of them ran home, playing a game of tag while they were at it.

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Updates will be pretty spontaneous!**


	2. I'm sorry, Kacchan

**Have I mentioned that these chapters won't be chronological? If I didn't, well you know now. Have fun!**

The blonde stared at the empty seat next to him, worry and anger rising with every second that passed. Izuku hadn't been to school for a whole week already, apparently sick or something. Katsuki was sure it was a lie, Izuku would have called and told him what he had otherwise. He would have asked him to visit and not simply stay silent like he had now. So Katsuki decided to do exactly what he would have done usually: visit his best friend after school.

Katsuki waited for school to be over far more patiently than he had ever expected himself to be able of. But time was working against him it seemed, the hours even longer than usual and the small blonde couldn't remember a day as long as the current one. After half of the day was over, the teachers too had realized that Katsuki couldn't concentrate at all and the threat of being sent to the director hung over Katsuki's head. It didn't bother him though, his thoughts were on the far away place a few streets from school where Izuku's home was. Besides, nobody would ever care about one misstep as small as not concentrating on a lesson. Even if his mother said that it could cost him his hero career, Katsuki had a hard time believing it. Although he certainly didn't want to be at the receiving end of her rage, it was unpleasant to say the least.

When the bell finally announced the end of the terribly boring school day, Katsuki threw all of his belongings into his back and rushed out of the classroom faster than even his classmate whose quirk allowed him to be super fast. On the way out Katsuki nearly tripped over the stairs and fell but an older student caught him last second with stretched arms. The blonde didn't stop to apologize, merely shouted something akin to an apology. He had places to be after all!

Leaving the school gates behind him, Katsuki ran up the street, took the first turnoff on the right side and then again the first on the left, nearly crashing into a bunch of garbage cans. He then took a shortcut through a garden, which Izuku would have stopped him from because ' _you can't just enter other people's property without their permission, Kacchan!_ '. But Izuku wasn't here so there was nobody to hinder him, besides the neighbor's cat which took great pleasure in trying to scratch him. Katsuki's eyes widened and he sped up a little more, leaving the horror that was the grey fuzzball behind. After a few more turns he arrived at the apartment complex in which the Midoriyas lived. Out of breath he pressed the doorbell and waited for Izuku's mother to answer.

" _Who is there?_ "

"It's me! Katsuki! I want to visit Izuku!"

" _Ah, Katsuki-kun, I'm sorry to disappoint but Izuku is very sick and-_ "

"Please! Just five minutes!"

Silence followed and for a moment Katsuki feared he wouldn't be let in until the familiar sound of the entrance door opening resounded from his right. Katsuki stormed inside, not bothering with the elevator but directly running up the stairs. He came to a halt in front of the Midoriya's doorstep where the already tired and kind of sad if Katsuki were to guess, looking mother of Izuku stood.

"Katsuki-kun, there is something I have to tell you before you go to Izuku."

As she continued speaking, Katsuki grew paler.

He stepped inside the dark room, the only light source being the computer screen. Katsuki walked over to the computer and the desk chair in front of it, not quite sure when he had last been so insecure. He spun around the chair Izuku and he shared so often to look up thing about heroes, All Might in particular, only to discover that Izuku wasn't sitting in it at all. Confused the blonde looked around until something touched his legs and he let out a scream.

He looked down, a small hand was wrapped around his right ankle.

"Izuku?"

Katsuki kneeled down. Below the desk, wrapped in a blanket, sat Izuku, tears rolling over his cheeks. Katsuki automatically crawled over to the other boy and sat down next to him. He wasn't good at comforting, not at all. But after something that felt like an hour, Izuku calmed down. He wasn't crying anymore, his breathing had evened.

"I'm sorry", Izuku whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

For a moment Katsuki feared that Izuku would start to cry again but the other boy stayed silent.

"What happened?"

"Mom and I went to a doctor. He said that my feet bones are different. He said that- that-"

Izuku took a deep breath and Katsuki wished all of this to be just a bad dream. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair at all!

"Kacchan", Izuku started again, "I can't be your hero partner, I will never be because- because I'm quirkless."

Then the boy did start to sob again and Katsuki felt as helpless as never before. He didn't know what to do or what to say to comfort his best and only friend.

"You can still be a hero", Katsuki spoke up. "Yes, I'm sure, you can still be a hero."

"Didn't you hear what I just said? I'm quirkless!"

"So what? That won't stop you, won't stop us! We will still be heroes, one way or another! And who says you won't get your quirk just really late?! Yeah! And know what? Not all heroes are those fighting villains! Remember what All Might said about his doctor? She is a hero because she does all she can to make sure All Might can fight and heals so many people! Regular heroes can't do that! We will be a team, Izuku. And we will help people!"

After his mini rant, Katsuki was out of breath, his head red and if somebody would tell Izuku something different, he would fight them.

"... Do you really think that I can still be a hero?"

"Yeah! You're always gonna be my hero for sure!", Katsuki answered and promptly got even redder, something that had seemed impossible moment ago.

"... Thank you."

And then, only then Izuku smiled again. Only slightly, but there it was again. They would work this out. Yes, Katsuki was sure they would figure out what to do now. He knew they would.  
Besides Izuku should never have to apologize for something that wasn't his fault ever again. He would make sure of it.

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please tell me what you think!**


	3. Flowers

**Double update! :D This takes place when they are 11.**

Izuku adored quirks. How could he not when they were so amazing and diverge? His mom for example could pull object to her and so usually used her quirk to help her do the chores around the house, while Kacchan used his- would use his quirk to become an amazing hero!  
Both were amazing in Izuku's opinion. Every quirk was great!

Exactly that was precisely the reason why Izuku believed it was stupid that people degraded others based on what quirks they had. Somebody who could grow flowers never seemed like much compared to somebody who could burn everything they touched, but only if you told them so.

"Don't cry," Izuku told the kindergartener. "That stupid boy is wrong. Your quirk is super cool."

The little boy with dark brown skin and colorful flowers between his light green hair tried his hardest to stop sobbing but ultimately failed as he couldn't shake off the feeling of a hot hand pulling at his flowers. Izuku and Katsuki had been on their way home from school when they had seen the little boy getting pushed around by some kids their age. The heroes the two eleven year olds were, they had stepped in. Katsuki had quickly chased after the bullies while Izuku had done his best to make sure the victim of the bullying was well.

The eleven year old had even put a colorful band aid on one of the scratches the younger had. It hadn't bled but Izuku knew that having a band aid automatically made one feel better. That was at least the impression he had gotten from all the times he had patched up Katsuki after the blonde had gotten into yet another fight or dangerous situation, like the claws of the neighbors' cats.

"You can grow flowers from your body, right?" Izuku asked, hoping talking about the child's quirk would calm him down.

"Myself and everything I touch," the boy hiccupped.

"Everything? Really? Like the ground? A wall? Me?" Izuku asked, his curiosity obviously shining through.

The boy nodded and took Izuku's right hand in his. Then he concentrated really hard and slowly a spring grew on Izuku's palm. His green eyes widened and he had a hard time standing still as he watched how a red flower started to bloom right on him.

"This feels so weird… But it's so cool!"

The kindergartener smiled slightly, blushed at all the praise he was getting.

"Do you really think so?" The child asked while wiping the tears off his cheeks.

"Of course!"

Izuku wouldn't lie to the other. He really did think it was a cool quirk. For one it looked really amazing. All the colorful and different flowers on top of the younger one's head were like a rainbow, reminded Izuku of the small garden he could see out of his room's window. Not to mention that there were a lot of jobs the kid would be able to do with his quirk. The first application everybody would think of first was of course gardener but why not think beyond the most obvious? Izuku knew you made tea out of some flowers and also medicine! Some flowers were also poisonous, like those foxgloves his mother had shown him once! Observing the flower grown on his hand, Izuku thought that maybe his hand felt a little number than before? Did the growth process take energy from him? It would be a useful ability for a hero to catch a villain. More and more questions rose within the eleven year old but before he could go off too far, he was interrupted by Katsuki poking him.

"Back with us again?" The blonde asked.

He hadn't even noticed that his friend had returned that deep he had been in thought.

"Uhm, yeah. Sorry, I spaced out-" Izuku stopped talking when he saw how the kid looked at him with his wide violet eyes.

"Did I say something wrong?" He asked panicked. He had wanted to cheer the child up not make him even sadder!

"Do you really believe I could be a hero?" The child timidly asked.

Maybe the boy hadn't look sadder and shocked but rather hopeful and surprised, it came to Izuku.

"Yep," Katsuki answered for Izuku, his confident smile in place. "You could totally kick ass! Especially that idiot's! You are way more awesome! I mean, what kind of man gangs up on a squirt half his size?"

The boy seemed to actually light up, a sunflower sprouting right on top of his head. Without any reluctance the boy threw himself at the two.

"Thank you, Nii-chan!"

 **Thanks for reading!**


	4. Analytics

**Because Izuku's analytic skills are amazing and shall be honored. Also don't let two 11 year old unsupervised. We all know they only cause trouble, especially if they can blow stuff up.**

"Your explosions would be bigger if you waited a few seconds longer before releasing them," Izuku said one day.

"Huh?"

They were walking through the forest to gather big tree branches for their hideout. Every hero had a super cool agency after all, so they just had to build their own. Since most of the branches lying around were too small and breakable, Katsuki had started using his quirk to cut bigger ones off the trees. Some he could do in one go, for others he needed more attempts since they were so big.

"I mean- the longer you hold the explosion, the stronger it becomes. You're releasing them pretty quickly though so they don't get very big," Izuku explained his observations.

Katsuki stares at his hands in wonder, he had never thought about holding his explosions longer than just the split of a second.

"But wouldn't they blow up in my face then?" the blonde asked his friend.

The eleven year old just shrugged before smiling. "Can't hurt to try, can it?"

"I guess not!" Katsuki answered grinning and started to walk in the general direction of where the resident river ran through the forest. Izuku though looked at him in confusion.

"Kacchan, what are you doing?"

"Walking to the river, Deku. If my explosions do blow up, they could start a forest fire and then we can't build our hideout here", Katsuki explained seriously. There wasn't any other place they knew as well as this part of the forest and therefore could defend the best against villains. It would be way too troublesome to find another place and Katsuki guessed that forest fires in general also had other negative effects.

Understanding his friend, Izuku followed Katsuki, eager to see the blonde test it out. Katsuki's explosions were awesome and if they really could get bigger they would be even more awesome. Explosions were cool after all.

When they arrived at the river Katsuki dropped the branches he was carrying right next to Izuku. Then he searched for a tree that stood close to the river but far away enough from the other trees so that they wouldn't immediately catch fire. A bit up the river they found the perfect tree. It was _huge_ and stood at the perfect place.

"This one," they decided two nearly identical grins on their faces.

Katsuki walked up to the tree while Izuku stood in some distance, notebook in hand to document everything. The blonde hold his hands up and concentrated at the task at hand. He could feel his palms heat up and his skin prickle. Usually he would reach for a branch now but just like Izuku had said, he waited a little longer until the heat was almost unbearable. Then he put his hands on the tree before making a quick retreat. In awe the two boys watched as the tree trunk burst open, causing the tree to fall over with a loud bang, water splashing everywhere.

"It worked! It worked! Izuku, you're a genius!" Katsuki cheered, making the green haired boy blush in the process.

"I- it was just an idea…"

"An awesome one though!"

The blonde turned back to the destruction he created, when a thought popped up in his mind.

"Hey, Izuku," he slowly started to speak up again.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we should test this out some more?"

The other boy's eyes widened before he nodded, immediately hooked at the prospect of blowing more things up.

(It was hard to come up with a believable lie though explaining the smoke stains on their clothes and the missing eyebrows.)

 **Thanks for reading!**


	5. If and when

**Chapter summary: Because deciding on going to a High School your friend won't attend sucks.**  
 **Set when they are 14!**

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, bird were singing and middle school students stayed inside, math homework long forgotten, and instead focused on discussing the various high school options they had. Izuku sighed for what felt like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes as he grabbed his fluffy namesake and put her in his lap. Katsuki and he were both sitting on the light green carpet of Katsuki's room, surrounded by the cats the blonde teen seemed to be collecting and various flyers. But cats wouldn't be cats if they managed to stay clear from the papers the two boys wanted to look at.

"What are you feeding Deku? She's become so fat," Izuku offhand commented the weight of the black cat sitting on his legs.

"She's not fat, she's pregnant," Katsuki replied and threw a wadded piece of paper into the trash bin with deadly accuracy.

At that answer Izuku frowned. Katsuki usually would tell him important stuff like this earlier. There could only be one reason why he wouldn't do so- "Do your parents know that yet?"

"Nope, they wouldn't tolerate another cat- or kittens so I'm not telling them until it's too late and the kittens are there. By that time my parents won't have the heart to give them away," Katsuki explained himself and shot Izuku a grin worthy of a suburban not quite villain.

Izuku groaned and rolled his eyes, unable to comprehend his friend's inability to turn down the opportunity to gain even more of the fluffy if moody animal.

"You know I could take one or two kittens if it comes down to it? Or Himawari, he's been wanting a pet for ages. You won't be able to take care of them all when you go to UA anyway," Izuku tried his hand at being the voice of reason. It wasn't something he did often, most of the time Katsuki and he had the same crazy ideas.

" _If_ I go to UA," Katsuki spoke up, "then-"

"Of course you'll go to UA!" Izuku interrupted, Deku jumping of his legs as he moved too much. "That's always been your dream!"

Katsuki not going to UA was completely unacceptable, Izuku couldn't remember a time when the both of them didn't have their eyes set on UA. Now, for him the school had gotten out of reach, but Katsuki had the best chances or entering and graduating as the great hero Izuku knew his friend would be. If the blonde would quit now and cease all his efforts, he'd get the rant of his life.  
Izuku already drew breath to get started, only to be stopped by Katsuki who continued.

"I know, it's just that I've been wondering if I'm cut out for this?"

Had anyone else said that, Izuku would have immediately tried to assure them that of course they could do it. But the teenager also knew his friend and the expression he carried surely didn't speak of insecurities.

"I'm probably going to attend Tokyo's School of Sciences and Arts," Izuku declared and searched for that school's flyer. When he found it, he held it up right in front of Katsuki's face. The blonde took the paper out of Izuku's hands and read through the bits of information it provided. When he was done he lowered his hand with the paper and looked at Izuku, waiting for the green haired teen to start talking. And just as expected, Izuku began to explain.

"My grades are good enough and they offer a more specialized subject selection than most schools. Furthermore they have quirk studies as a separate subject which go a lot deeper than the ' _a fire quirk can burn'_ ones we had last year. I've been thinking about maybe going into the Quirk Management Department when I'm done with school so classes at TSSA would be really useful."

All of that sounded really well thought through Katsuki had to admit, and the way Izuku was smiling basically screamed that he was aware of it.

"You put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?" Katsuki asked, once again glancing at the flyer in his hand.

"Yes, I want to do something useful after all and the only downside to TSSA is that it would take me rather long to get to school in the morning but we'd share about half the walk when you go to UA so even that's not much of a problem."

That argument seemed to do the trick as Katsuki got up and collected all the papers around them, only leaving two to lie on the ground as the rest disappeared in the trash bin. "TSSA and UA it is then?"

"Yup!" Izuku answered smiling, appearing free of all and any worries. "So don't go blowing up your school in the first week without me being there!"

" _Deku!_ "

 **Managed to update before the new year, yess!  
Also there's some foreshadowing for the start of a major plot (yes that actually exists) point here. Wonder if any of you can tell...  
See you next year some time!**


	6. Oddballs

**Chapter summary: It's not like they bully their classmates, it's just that they're** ** _weird_** **, okay? Thinking they could go far in life, when in reality they are only a quirkless no-good and a hot blooded brute.**

 **So I wanted to write an outsider's POV on Katsuki and Izuku's relationship. Set around the same time as** ** _If and when_** **in their last middle school year.**

Yamamoto Hideki was a good student, really. Nothing special, a total average from A to Z. But that also meant that he had averagely good chances at becoming a pro hero, just like his classmates – well, _most_ of his classmates.

Hideki glanced at the back of the classroom where the only exceptions were sitting, happily chatting over a _Hero Monthly_ magazine if he saw that right.

Bakugou Katsuki and Midoriya Izuku were oddballs, in more ways than one. First of all there was the fact that those two were friends at all, they couldn't be more different. Midoriya was quirkless, a weakling with next to none remarkable skills as far as Hideki was concerned. Sure, Midoriya had impressive common knowledge in every field and his English was better than that of most people in class but of what use were those skills if you wanted to be a hero? None!

Therefore Midoriya's brain had to be messed up if he still believed he could become a hero. Though Hideki couldn't quite recall Midoriya ever stating that he wanted to be a hero. Oh well, it didn't matter anyway since everybody wanted to be a hero and Midoriya definitely couldn't become one. He was quirkless and had no backbone.

Bakugou's chances at taking up a remarkable path in life _could_ be good, if he did a 180 with his attitude. The teenager had an amazing quirk, it was super powerful and definitely UA material, which made it a complete waste on Bakugou. The blonde pretty much only stuck with Midoriya and never paid any attention in the classes that were important if you wanted to become a hero. Instead he only doodled in his exercise book or whatever.

Honestly, how did Bakugou even get this far?

Probably cheated of the guys sitting near him, otherwise he'd have repeat class ages ago. Maybe that was why he hangs out with Midoriya?

Let the quirkless moron do the brain work for him while Bakugou himself was all brawn.

Yes, Hideki decided, that must be it.

Bakugou was only spending time with that loser to use up his brains. No wonder he got so aggressive when some of the others teased Midoriya a bit. Bakugou was probably afraid that losing his other half would only ruin his chances. And if those rumors were true, Bakugou was only friends with Midoriya and some nine year olds.

Oh well, two more people Hideki didn't have to worry about when considering his admittance to UA.

 **Writer's ramblings:**

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you think about this!**


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